Scoot takes a dig at Anton Casey

Budget carrier Scoot has taken swipes at Briton Anton Casey and his derisive comments about public transport users in its latest advertisement for its fare deal to Perth. -- PHOTO: FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF SCOOT

By Jermyn Chow

Budget carrier Scoot has taken swipes at Briton Anton Casey and his derisive comments about public transport users in its latest advertisement for its fare deal to Perth.

"Escape Plan: Fly to Perth Cheap Cheap, Poor or not!" screamed the yellow and white advertisement that was offering a 50 per cent discount on a two-way ticket to the Western Australian city.

It appeared to mock Mr Casey's family, with caricatures of the former senior wealth manager, his Singaporean wife - and former beauty queen - Bernice Wong, and their five-year-old son.

The cheeky advertisement, which was posted on the airline's Facebook page on Jan26, also alluded to the wealth manager's decision to leave Singapore with his family in tow.

The accompanying post said: "Hmm... we heard that Perth has become the destination of choice for an escape. So we decided to work overtime to bring you The great A.C Perth Escape Sale! (A.C for Amazingly Cheap of course.)"

The eye-catching ad spread rapidly on social media, garnering 878 likes and was shared 755 times within four hours it was posted.

More than 125 people commented on the ad, with some applauding the parody and others criticising it for being too insensitive.

The ad comes six days after Mr Casey called train commuters "poor people" and said he needed to "wash the stench of public transport off me".

Last week, the Tuckshop bar also put a lighter spin on the issue with a signboard at its entrance listing two different prices for a pint of beer: "$120 for Anton Casey" and "$12 for the rest of us poor Singaporeans".